RAW there is no in--game effect that directly interacts with racial traits like this. Can you explain why you're asking, would make it easier to advise on your options.
Well during one of my game, my dm doesn't want me to use my Transe trait from my Wood Elf to make a Long rest of 4 hours because he said that it doesn't make any sense that Elf don't need sleep
Well of course it doesn't make sense, it's magic. If it helps the DM's fantasy at all, that feature of elves is(probably) based on Tolkien's elves, who evidently don't need to conventionally sleep.
"…Only Legolas still stepped as lightly as ever, his feet hardly seeming to press the grass. leaving no footprints as he passed; but in the waybread of the Elves he found all the sustenance that he needed, and he could sleep, if sleep it could be called by Men, resting his mind in the strange paths of elvish dreams, even as he walked open-eyed in the light of this world."
"Legolas already lay motionless, his fair hands folded upon his breast, his eyes un-closed, blending living night and deep dream, as is the way with Elves."
Technically... the Dungeon Master can change any rule they damn well please for any reason they want. If the DM decides that all Elves poop little rabbit turds and they sing loudly whenever they do, then that's just how it works in their world. That said... it's a weird choice to make, and more often than not a DM who bans something like that either because they think it doesn't make sense or they think it gives one character an advantage they don't want them to have, then that's usually just laziness on the DM's part. The DM is free to do whatever they want at their table, but conversely, players aren't required to play with a DM who runs the game in a way that they dislike.
The DM can decide that in this campaign elves don't have Trance or any other trait or feature since houseruling or homebrew is within the DM's purview.
The DM Adjudicates the Rules: One rule overrides all others: the DM is the final authority on how the rules work in play.
Trances leave elves semiconscious, which has no rules associated so it'd be up to DM to determine what they can or cannot do while meditate deeply this way. All we can tell is that it's not unconscious. so for exemple it could impose disadvantage to Passive Perception as suggested by a Dev;
@DerynDraconis Sleeping human = Unconscious (no Passive Perception). How works Passive Perception for elf during "Trance" (semiconscious)?
@JeremyECrawford Trance doesn't suspend an elf's passive Perception. A DM could treat the elf as distracted and impose disadvantage.
Few things to dissemble there, starting with why does the DM have an issue with it? It's lore, core to the race and doesn't give any kind of exceptional perk, aside from allowing them to take an additional watch. Is it a 3 person party, where this ability kills the DM's ability to force exhaustion on the group? Maybe the DM doesn't understand the mechanic properly because in my understanding, ALL characters need the 8 hours of DOWN time for a LR to apply. Sure, the elf can be awake, but he/she can't be actively doing things (fighting, hiking, what have you) and still get the benefits of a LR.
I'd propose a discussion to sort where the problem is. As others have said, it's DM purview to alter any rule if they wish. I'd just make sure there's a valid reason behind it and it's not a case of not understanding it. If it's a lack of understanding, there's a decent chance you'll encounter other things as the campaign goes on that aren't properly understood, some of which COULD be a bigger issue than a couple hours sleep.
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Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
The SAC has clarified that an elf who meditates according to the Trance trait during a long rest finishes the long rest after only 4 hours.
If the removal of the Trance trait wasn't discussed in your session 0, then you should argue that you be allowed to change your race since you didn't know about this limitation when you created the character.
You could also ask what the DM is offering to replace the Trance trait, in order to keep the same power level for all races in their campaign.
Does it say anyplace in the rules that an Elf can stand watch while in a trance? Or really do anything?
So if they only need a 4 hour sleep they still have to work with the rest of the party who needs more.
Personally if I was the party Elf I would get a little ticked that I was on watch ALL the time.
All of the newer Elves, from Monsters of the Multiverse onward, explicitly retain consciousness while in a Trance. Only the older ones use the ambiguous "semiconscious". I dunno why you'd be ticked off, because any other race would just be doing nothing anyway.
Few things to dissemble there, starting with why does the DM have an issue with it? It's lore, core to the race and doesn't give any kind of exceptional perk, aside from allowing them to take an additional watch. Is it a 3 person party, where this ability kills the DM's ability to force exhaustion on the group? Maybe the DM doesn't understand the mechanic properly because in my understanding, ALL characters need the 8 hours of DOWN time for a LR to apply. Sure, the elf can be awake, but he/she can't be actively doing things (fighting, hiking, what have you) and still get the benefits of a LR.
Well that's not exactly true.
The original trance trait would seem to indicate that only the time they "sleep" is affected but that a long rest still takes 8hrs. But the later published Sea Elf, Shadar-kai and Eladrin state clearly that they can do a long rest in just 4hrs and then there is a SAC entry that says that the same goes for all Elf's.
Does the Trance trait allow an elf to finish a long rest in 4 hours?
If an elf meditates during a long rest (as described in the Trance trait), the elf finishes the rest after only 4 hours. A meditating elf otherwise follows all the rules for a long rest; only the duration is changed.
The Reborn lineage can also finish a long rest in 4hrs so it is quite clear that this is something that the designers want to exist in-world. IMO it's a bad choice, having different races do different things during their rests is good flavour but having the long rest mechanic work differently is not needed IMO.
But from a role play stand point if I was an Elf I would not like it if I was always being expected to be the one taking a 4 hour watch while everyone else gets a 2 hour watch or none at all. Its the little role playing points that make a great character.
The elf character doesn't have to always take 4 hours watch if it doesn't want. In a typical party of 4 that must all sleep at least 6 hours out of 8 during a long rest, it means each character watch 2 hours and sleep 6. The elf can sleep 4 hours and watch for 2 more and spend the remaining 2 hours doing whatever else it want. The extra 2 hours watch that an elf would do instead of another party member give such character the opportunity to do something else, like more time to sleep or do some downtime activity.
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Is there somewhere a rule that explain that you can remove a trait from a race like the trait Trance from a Elf?
RAW there is no in--game effect that directly interacts with racial traits like this. Can you explain why you're asking, would make it easier to advise on your options.
Well during one of my game, my dm doesn't want me to use my Transe trait from my Wood Elf to make a Long rest of 4 hours because he said that it doesn't make any sense that Elf don't need sleep
Well of course it doesn't make sense, it's magic. If it helps the DM's fantasy at all, that feature of elves is(probably) based on Tolkien's elves, who evidently don't need to conventionally sleep.
"…Only Legolas still stepped as lightly as ever, his feet hardly seeming to press the grass. leaving no footprints as he passed; but in the waybread of the Elves he found all the sustenance that he needed, and he could sleep, if sleep it could be called by Men, resting his mind in the strange paths of elvish dreams, even as he walked open-eyed in the light of this world."
"Legolas already lay motionless, his fair hands folded upon his breast, his eyes un-closed, blending living night and deep dream, as is the way with Elves."
I mean, it's a RAW race feature; not really good form for a DM to nix it just because they don't like the aesthetic.
Technically... the Dungeon Master can change any rule they damn well please for any reason they want. If the DM decides that all Elves poop little rabbit turds and they sing loudly whenever they do, then that's just how it works in their world. That said... it's a weird choice to make, and more often than not a DM who bans something like that either because they think it doesn't make sense or they think it gives one character an advantage they don't want them to have, then that's usually just laziness on the DM's part. The DM is free to do whatever they want at their table, but conversely, players aren't required to play with a DM who runs the game in a way that they dislike.
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The DM can decide that in this campaign elves don't have Trance or any other trait or feature since houseruling or homebrew is within the DM's purview.
Does it say anyplace in the rules that an Elf can stand watch while in a trance? Or really do anything?
So if they only need a 4 hour sleep they still have to work with the rest of the party who needs more.
Personally if I was the party Elf I would get a little ticked that I was on watch ALL the time.
While in trance the elf is basically lucid dreaming/meditating, so they can't stand watch for that part. They can for the other 4 hours, though.
Trances leave elves semiconscious, which has no rules associated so it'd be up to DM to determine what they can or cannot do while meditate deeply this way. All we can tell is that it's not unconscious. so for exemple it could impose disadvantage to Passive Perception as suggested by a Dev;
Few things to dissemble there, starting with why does the DM have an issue with it? It's lore, core to the race and doesn't give any kind of exceptional perk, aside from allowing them to take an additional watch. Is it a 3 person party, where this ability kills the DM's ability to force exhaustion on the group? Maybe the DM doesn't understand the mechanic properly because in my understanding, ALL characters need the 8 hours of DOWN time for a LR to apply. Sure, the elf can be awake, but he/she can't be actively doing things (fighting, hiking, what have you) and still get the benefits of a LR.
I'd propose a discussion to sort where the problem is. As others have said, it's DM purview to alter any rule if they wish. I'd just make sure there's a valid reason behind it and it's not a case of not understanding it. If it's a lack of understanding, there's a decent chance you'll encounter other things as the campaign goes on that aren't properly understood, some of which COULD be a bigger issue than a couple hours sleep.
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
The SAC has clarified that an elf who meditates according to the Trance trait during a long rest finishes the long rest after only 4 hours.
If the removal of the Trance trait wasn't discussed in your session 0, then you should argue that you be allowed to change your race since you didn't know about this limitation when you created the character.
You could also ask what the DM is offering to replace the Trance trait, in order to keep the same power level for all races in their campaign.
All of the newer Elves, from Monsters of the Multiverse onward, explicitly retain consciousness while in a Trance. Only the older ones use the ambiguous "semiconscious". I dunno why you'd be ticked off, because any other race would just be doing nothing anyway.
Well that's not exactly true.
The original trance trait would seem to indicate that only the time they "sleep" is affected but that a long rest still takes 8hrs. But the later published Sea Elf, Shadar-kai and Eladrin state clearly that they can do a long rest in just 4hrs and then there is a SAC entry that says that the same goes for all Elf's.
The Reborn lineage can also finish a long rest in 4hrs so it is quite clear that this is something that the designers want to exist in-world. IMO it's a bad choice, having different races do different things during their rests is good flavour but having the long rest mechanic work differently is not needed IMO.
I am personally not mad about the trait.
But from a role play stand point if I was an Elf I would not like it if I was always being expected to be the one taking a 4 hour watch while everyone else gets a 2 hour watch or none at all.
Its the little role playing points that make a great character.
The elf character doesn't have to always take 4 hours watch if it doesn't want. In a typical party of 4 that must all sleep at least 6 hours out of 8 during a long rest, it means each character watch 2 hours and sleep 6. The elf can sleep 4 hours and watch for 2 more and spend the remaining 2 hours doing whatever else it want. The extra 2 hours watch that an elf would do instead of another party member give such character the opportunity to do something else, like more time to sleep or do some downtime activity.